By Annie Flynn
WHEN life handed Ballinamallard man Justin Palmer lemons, he gave a master class in how to make lemonade.
After being left stunned by the sudden diagnosis of a serious heart condition, the 27-year-old gave up his day job and followed his passion.
Justin has now forged a new career that has seen him become a highly sought after editor and videographer for many A list celebrities.
‘Just an edit’ is the Instagram handle used by Justin, and the page showcases his work as a videography and video editor.
Justin currently works as a full-time video editor and videographer for MMA fighter Gilbert Burns. He creates content for Gilbert’s Instagram page which includes over one million followers.
Justin has also worked with other famous faces including England caption Harry Kane, Irish MMA fighter Paul Hughes and many more.
Now his full-time job, Justin’s journey was anything but linear.
“I began editing around 10 years ago, it started with videos of myself playing FIFA,” he laughed.
“It was during that I realised I enjoyed the editing part more than playing FIFA itself.”
Justin graduated from Ulster University with a degree in creative technology, after graduation he worked full time in quality assurance continuing his passion for video editing as a hobby.
“I was working 9-5, coming home and editing three to four hours sometimes longer, it was a lot,” he said.
Justin’s life took an unexpected turn last year, when he was hospitalised and diagnosed with peri-myocarditis.
“It was a rough time for me, but it allowed me time to reflect on what I wanted to do, whenever I got told my heart was swollen up like a balloon it sort of put a few things into perspective, I wanted more,” he told the Herald.
Justin took some time off work recovering from his illness. During this break he had coffee with Tommy Dixon, a successful Fermanagh photography. He said this changed the trajectory of his life.
“I often wonder what would have happened had I not met him for that coffee,” he said.
“Tommy told me about all the opportunities out there in the videography and editing industry, he said it was more than possible to make a full-time career from it.”
Not long after this Justin came across an advertisement looking for a video editor part of the company Sweet Sweat.
“I applied, after some back and forth I was giving a project with MMA fighter Sean O’Malley, after getting that I thought to myself this is absolutely mad,” he said.
This project allowed Justin to get vital recognition. Soon after MMA fighter Gilbert burn’s representative reached out and asked Justin to become part of their team.
Justin has now worked with Gilbert as his full-time videography and editor for 10 months.
“I’ve created a very close friendship with Gilbert, flying out to Miami on numerous occasions for work purposes, I’ve even played video games with his kids,” Justin laughed.
Justin left his job in quality assurance. Then took full time post at Stat Sports as their videography and video editor. Stat Sports create GSP providers that track metrics for football.
“While working for Stats Sports, I’ve been flown out to Munich to shoot Harry Kane, filmed Arsenal players in London,” he said.
“My projects have also included Manchester United’s Harry Maguire, and American footballer Alex Morgan. it’s just all been so surreal.”
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